Comments on: Ladson’s Inbox 2/5/13

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:14:02 +0000

I think its an indictment on the system as a whole right now that Rivero, career minor leaguer and now facing an options squeeze despite having not one day of MLB service, is listed as our #8 prospect. Maybe i’m just jaded on him, because I know that others are higher on him and think that he could even contribute in 2013. But I view him as a career minor leaguer/org guy.

Other teams have low-A/recent draft picks as their #6-#10 prospects. Where’s ours? Where are our 2nd/3rd/4th round draft picks of recent years? Mooneyham, Renda, Miller from 2012, Turnbull from 2011, Hague in 2010, Kobernus/Holder in 2009. Yes i’m cherry picking a bit, since some of our 2/3/4th rounders are mentioned (Purke, Solis), but some of these names have never come close to impressing.

By: Wally

Wally — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:03:33 +0000

He is even lightening up on Skole, since it used to be ‘org guy’ and ‘non prospect’. I thought that it was interesting that Rivero was 8, and Solis wasn’t even top 10, yet might be overall top 100 next year.

Anyway, agree, the Cards are definitely set up for a while. Cincy isn’t in bad shape either, and neither are we, frankly. I’ll be surprised if some combination of those three don’t make half the WS for the next several years.

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:51:04 +0000

The one thing I don’t like about the way Rizzo assembles teams is the whole “everyone has to be a plus defender” mentality. That’s entirely why Willingham was traded (well, most of it anyway; he also is/was injury prone). I don’t have a problem keeping a plus-plus bat and sticking him in left field. Ahem, Michael Morse. But, the trades are done, we’ve moved on.

The three Minor league system org rankings i’ve seen so far have the Nats at 16 (BA), 25 (Sickels) and 21 (Law). They each use slightly different criteria to rate, so the variances aren’t too surprising. Of course, all three had the same system #1 (St. Louis) and for the most part agree on at least the top 5 or so. Ironically Law had us #21 last year as well. It is really scary though that St. Louis is a perennial playoff team AND has the consensus best farm system. In that respect they and Tampa Bay are the class of baseball, putting it all together. Law’s writeup of the system (as predicted) doesn’t like Skole that much but says that Solis if he’s healthy in 2013 could be a top 100 guy next year.

By: Wally

Wally — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:55:05 +0000

Love the HRod comment, both yours and Ladson’s. I didn’t hate the Willingham trade, though it clearly didn’t work out. But I think that the counter to it has to be ‘keep him’, not ‘trade him for something better’. He has never been traded for something good, and at some point, we have to accept that his trade value is not high.

Btw, is it crazy to be a Nats fan these days, or what? At least for those of us who have been through it from the beginning. Within the last day or two, we have gotten the ‘top offseason acquisition’ from Dave Cameron @ Fangraphs, almost embarrassing praise from Dan Symborski @ ESPN, and even Keith Law in his prospects write up was pretty complementary about the team (even though rating us at 21, which is about right to me). Generally consensus ‘best team in baseball’ from pundits.

I dunno, I kind of miss ‘Natinals’ … Nah.

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:38:20 +0000

I’m apparently the only one who cares about player options.

By: Mark L

Mark L — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:11:28 +0000

I was watching a video of Ted Lerner at NatsFest and it hardly seemed the same guy who was, as you rightly put it,a world class penny pincher.

You, Todd, are apparently THE expert on options in Nats Land.

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:45:30 +0000

I think I agree too. I wish I could find the infamous Ken Rosenthal story about the early days of the Lerner tenure, replete with micromanagement and cheapness and penny pinching as contrast to what we see now. Bowden must kick himself when he sees the budget that Rizzo has to work with compared to what he was trying to do. I’m almost (almost!) ready to cut Bowden some slack.

No I didn’t see the reference in Kerr’s blog. I’ll go find it Whatever he thinks i’m an expert in (unless its something along the lines of what I do for a living, for which I think i’m pretty good at), he’s probably wrong Thanks for the heads up.

By: Mark L

Mark L — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:36:31 +0000

I tend to agree with Tom Boswell that the Lerners took a long time, and a lot of frequent reminders, that running the baseball team was different than a real estate business.
The good news is they’re ‘all in’ now. Thankfully.

Todd, did you see your ’shoutout’ on Byrun Kerr’s blog. The writer infers that you’re a full blown expert. Congrats.

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:28:59 +0000

Mark L: I know you felt at the time that the Willingham trade was a “salary dump.” Seeing our payroll now at the $120M mark do you still feel that way?

By: Mark L

Mark L — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:57:50 +0000

You’re dead on with the Willingham trade. He’s still bashing and we’ve got nothing significant to show for it.
Does anyone really think Henry will be on the big club Opening Day? Didn’t think so.